I help with the Speech & Debate team at my daughter's hs as they are members of "the NFL" (I have won Toastmasters International International speaking contests in multiple
categories to the highest levels). So the teacher asked for subjects for this quarter's debate. Someone brought up Gay Marriage. Here was the comment that came from one of the "church kids" (I know them all pretty well).

"We've already beat this one to death. Resolved: The Constitution
guarantees religious freedom and our laws are not to be made or
enforced based on religious beliefs, whether Christian, Muslim or
otherwise. The argument for DOMA is the "Sanctity" of marriage.
Sanctity means "holy" and is specifically religion based. Therefore,
the government interferring in private marriages is the
UnConstitutional regulation of private citizens personal lives through
the enforcement of religious beliefs."

Pretty strong. Counterpoints? I can't come up with any. Of course, I never wore a tie or carried a briefcase to highschool...

I help with the Speech & Debate team at my daughter's hs as they are members of "the NFL" (I have won Toastmasters International International speaking contests in multiple
categories to the highest levels). So the teacher asked for subjects for this quarter's debate. Someone brought up Gay Marriage. Here was the comment that came from one of the "church kids" (I know them all pretty well).

"We've already beat this one to death. Resolved: The Constitution
guarantees religious freedom and our laws are not to be made or
enforced based on religious beliefs, whether Christian, Muslim or
otherwise. The argument for DOMA is the "Sanctity" of marriage.
Sanctity means "holy" and is specifically religion based. Therefore,
the government interferring in private marriages is the
UnConstitutional regulation of private citizens personal lives through
the enforcement of religious beliefs."

Pretty strong. Counterpoints? I can't come up with any. Of course, I never wore a tie or carried a briefcase to highschool...

Click to expand...

It is an excellent argument.

One could use the anti-gay arguments to make an argument that the marriage between a black man and white woman is unholy (Gen 9:25-27) to get the point across as well.

I help with the Speech & Debate team at my daughter's hs as they are members of "the NFL" (I have won Toastmasters International International speaking contests in multiple
categories to the highest levels). So the teacher asked for subjects for this quarter's debate. Someone brought up Gay Marriage. Here was the comment that came from one of the "church kids" (I know them all pretty well).

"We've already beat this one to death. Resolved: The Constitution
guarantees religious freedom and our laws are not to be made or
enforced based on religious beliefs, whether Christian, Muslim or
otherwise. The argument for DOMA is the "Sanctity" of marriage.
Sanctity means "holy" and is specifically religion based. Therefore,
the government interferring in private marriages is the
UnConstitutional regulation of private citizens personal lives through
the enforcement of religious beliefs."

Pretty strong. Counterpoints? I can't come up with any. Of course, I never wore a tie or carried a briefcase to highschool...

Click to expand...

The government isn't interfering in private marriages.

No one is telling anyone they have to marry a gay person nor is the government telling anyone they have to conduct marriage ceremonies for gay people.

What so called church goers fail to see is that denying others the right to marry indeed is interfering in the lives the people they wish to prohibit from obtaining the legal protection that they themselves enjoy.

This brings up a relevant tangent.

Should the government allow religious institutions to perform legally binding ceremonies?

The obvious answer is no. All Marriages should be performed by the state insofar as marriages are legal contracts. I would argue that the fact that the state has laws that recognize the legality of a religious ceremony is itself a violation of the Constitution as it is the state recognizing religious ceremony as a legally binding contract.

If people feel the need to have their union sanctified by the magic man in the sky then they can have their local shaman perform another ceremony as prescribed by their religious dogma.

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